Wowzers, I just looked at the calendar and realised that 2022 is fast coming to a close, we’d best have a look back at some of the fine records released during the year and combine them into a list to show which one we think is best and the other 9 that made the shortlist, we’ll call it the musomuso top ten album list for 2022 (rolls off the tongue perfectly)….
10 – JACK WHITE - FEAR OF THE DAWN
One of two albums released in 2022 by the former White Stripes and Raconteurs member (not to mention Third Man Records label co-owner) Jack White. White’s fourth solo album, it was written and recorded at his Third Man Studio in Nashville, taking a more traditional rock route – the follow-up, July’s ‘Entering Heaven Alive’, would showcase a more folk feel. Featuring US rapper Q-Tip on one track, the album contains numerous samples, which lend a texture to the songs and really do enhance them. Our pick, the title track Fear of the Dawn is a fast-paced rocker in the vein of some of the faster White Stripes material, with cracking use of theramin, of all things, as well as White’s trademark feedback-laden guitar sound.
9 – WHITE LIES - AS I TRY NOT TO FALL APART
Once the darlings of the British indie scene in the mid-to-late 2000s, White Lies released one of the most satisfying debuts in ‘To Lose My Life’ in 2009, with its ten songs focusing solely on various aspects of death: the horror, the release, acceptance, and even euphoria inspired by such a topic that will inevitably, claim us all. Since then, I have to admit I’d allowed my interest to tail off somewhat, and so was pleasantly surprised to see the band had released a new LP this year. Older and wiser, their sound has either seen subtle progression, or retained what made them special in the first place; a merging of Editors, Joy Division and Echo & The Bunnymen (opinion amongst fans seems divided). Singer Harry McVeigh’s voice has retained its soulful depth, and as evidenced by our chosen song here, Am I Really Going to Die, the group have returned to their origins for subject matter. Tinged with an electronic edge but feeling like a modern take on the songs that propelled them to their initial fame, White Lies – while unlikely to achieve a chart-topping album – show they still have what it takes. It’s a fine line deciding whether to do away with the sound that made you famous, or keep giving fans what they want, but on this evidence, White Lies seem to have got it right.
8 – WARRINGTON-RUNCORN NEW TOWN DEVELOPMENT PLAN - DISTRICTS ROADS OPEN SPACE
Next is the latest effort from the alias of one Gordon Chapman-Fox, aka Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan. Describing the album as ‘a reflection of the social isolation of New Towns life’, this is a wonderful retro-futurist time capsule of an album. Taking a template from the likes of the ‘Stranger Things’ soundtrack, early Human League, the more ambient Aphex Twin material, and the “hauntology” feel of acts like Pye Corner Audio and Belbury Poly, the album (part of a trilogy with the previous albums ‘Interim Report, March 1979’ and ‘People and Industry’) is almost an imagined soundtrack to 70s staples such as public information films, cold-war paranoia and fish-finger dinners in front of the TV, with the accompanying videos to his tracks featuring archive footage of newly developed commuter-belt towns, the once gleaming, concrete and steel estates built for a growing populace, now reviled as the places nobody really wants to live in. Our pick, The Key to a New Home of Your Own – highlights the sweeping, analogue-synth feel of the album, taking in hints of Jean Michel-Jarre and Orbital, which can really take the listener on a journey of their own.
Technically an EP (although in our eyes, any EP that runs to 43 minutes long can be classed as an album, surely something held in common with The Orb’s 1992 “single” ‘Blue Room’ that entered the charts despite being a whopping 40-minutes long), ‘Antidawn’ is best described as beat-less ambience, more a collage of found sounds and melodic fragments, which merge together to form a rich aural tapestry, on which Burial has previously hung occurrences like night-bus rides through London, encounters at McDonald’s, and stoned nights in. Taking more than a subtle cue from the likes of The KLF’s ‘Chill Out’ album, the material uses genius elements to spark what might be going on, from the flick of lighters, murmured conversation and other sounds. Our highlight, Upstairs Flat, opens with a vintage sounding organ refrain, with trademark vocal snippets, which flows organically and manages to be incredibly beautiful, despite seemingly having no recognisable chord structure. Atmospheric to a tee, it’s maddening to realise Burial has not been requested to record a film score or soundtrack as yet, such is the imagery conjured from listening to his material.
6 – LUKE HAINES & PETER BUCK - ALL THE KIDS ARE SUPER BUMMED OUT
The second collaborative album from former Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder frontman Luke Haines, and former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck is another gloriously skewed take on rock, from what may at first appear to be an unlikely combination. Coming together after Buck bought one of Haines’ paintings quite by chance, a musical relationship formed, leading to 2020’s ‘Beat Poetry for Survivalists’ album. Two years on, the duo return with a double-album of varied genres, from ethnic-tinged tracks, punk and a slight return to the sound of Buck’s former employers on the song ‘Psychedelic Sitar Casual’. Whereas such rock-buddy pairings can garner mixed results, one gets the impression nothing is off limits in Haines/Buck jam sessions, with song titles hinting at the breadth of subject matter: political revolutions, the Iranian embassy siege, the diary of a crap artist…the list goes on. The influence of the duo is perhaps more heavily weighted in favour of Haines as the chief songwriter and lyricist, but that’s not to say R.E.M. fans won’t have a blast hearing Buck’s latest output, especially when it’s wrapped up in such wry, ascerbic songs – one even managing to shoehorn in the classic line “not on your nelly”. Our selection from the album is The British Army on LSD, an almost psychedelic retelling of history as seen through Haines’ unique filter on life.
5 – CHARLOTTE ADIGERY & BOLIS PUPUL - TOPICAL DANCER
An album from a Belgium-based duo, who share heritage from the French island of Martinique, ‘Topical Dancer’ is a unique collaboration with the electro-rock group Soulwax, who co-wrote and produced the album. Covering topics such as racial discrimination, sexual abuse and generalisation, the album has some insightful lyrics based on personal experiences, but also features an incessant dance quality, with an undeniable rhythm running through the tracks, showing off elements of funk, house, techno and a clever use of cutting and pasting vocal samples on the entertaining track ‘HAHA’. ‘Ceci n’est pas un cliché’, our highlight of the album, has a lovely double-bass groove about it, with a laid-back and seemingly effortless vocal performance, before a tight, urging beat kicks in that propels this simple yet effective track along – as well as forming the basis of a banging, acid-house infused Soulwax remix, which is also highly recommended.
Making another run of it since 2004, Boston natives Pixies have had somewhat of a resurgence, who, since 2014, have now released as many albums as they did in their original run from the mid-1980s to the early 90s. ‘Doggerel’, the band’s eighth studio album, shows them still baring their teeth as they plough through middle-age and beyond. Live, they’re still a force to be reckoned with, a power-house four-piece content to blitz audiences with quick-fire, punky assaults on the senses, just as they have always done (even if the ‘punk’ focuses mainly on aliens, death, Biblical revelations and incestuous offspring!). Expressing a desire to broaden their horizons, they are evidently proud of moving away from the “two-minute” songs they would load onto their albums, providing “more conventional arrangements, but still our twists in there”. Full of riffs and rockabilly flavours, the trademark angst and glimpses of genuine beauty that can be found in ugly subject matter, our pick from the LP, Thunder and Lightning, sounds both like classic Pixies, yet with a freshness that shows the band have not rested on their laurels.
At no.3, it’s another band – like Pixies - it’s fair to say have have enjoyed something of a renaissance since their reformation. This time it is Britpop darlings Suede, who made a second go of things after reuniting in 2010. After putting the band to bed in the early 2000s, it is, with hindsight, fair to say that the break has definitely done Brett Anderson and company good, with three superb albums arriving in the form of ‘Bloodsports’, ‘Night Thoughts’ and the cinematic ‘The Blue Hour’. Now, ‘Autofiction’ brings us something we’ve not had for quite some time – a stripped back, balls out, warts-and-all collection of songs that show, despite their increasing age, Suede are still a valid voice in the ever-crowded field of indie-rock. Fully admitting that many of the songs on the new album could not have been written in the band’s heyday (and without the benefit of life experience), Anderson’s yearning, angry, heartfelt and always reflective lyrics are a constant, focusing on childhood, love, loss (and the loss of love). Our pick from the album, Turn Off Your Brain and Yell, has a surging bassline that just begs to be heard live, with an energy that shouldn’t really be possible in a group of fifty-something men. While Suede may no longer be ‘So Young’ (to echo the title of an early single), on this form, they’re certainly still able to mix it with the young guns.
Much was made of Arctic Monkeys switch-up in style on their last album, 2018’s ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’, where they evolved from raucous Northern rock upstarts to sci-fi tinged, lounge jazz act. While this was certainly polarising, it can’t be denied it was a brave and possibly necessary move – it would’ve got boring very quickly to dine out on the spiky, quick-fire indie anthems that propelled the group to fame in the mid-2000s. Now showing an effortless maturity, an eagerness to explore sonic boundaries and infuse their melodies with the beautiful, surreal and clever poetic wordplay of Alex Turner, ‘The Car’ continues where ‘Tranquility Base…’ left off, albeit with less of a space-jazz theme. Our highlighted track – Sculptures of Anything Goes – shows off the evolution the band have undergone: a sinister, drone-like beginning accompanying Turner’s seemingly bitter lyrics. It would’ve had listeners to their debut album switching off in their droves, but the Monkeys have grown into themselves, and as such, are capable beyond doubt of carrying off such a transformation.
1 – THE SMILE - A LIGHT FOR ATTRACTING ATTENTION
Taking our top spot for album of 2022 is a group formed as a side-project. While some so-called “supergroups” can fall flat on their arse (take your pick, there have been many collaborations where egos and personalities have outweighed the tunes…) The Smile, made up of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, as well as jazz drummer Tom Skinner. Formed during the lockdown, and debuting material in a surprise appearance in a Glastonbury live-stream in 2021, their debut album is a comfortingly jagged fusion of off-kilter rhythms, electronica and the increasingly challenging take on rock music Radiohead have moved into since 2000’s polarising ‘Kid A’. The fact this record is (say it quietly) better than perhaps the last two Radiohead long-players shows that the trio are onto something special. Not sacrificing memorable tunes for the sake of “being weird”, there are similarities to the Radiohead sound, but somehow taken in a different direction – arguably more accessible, and a surprise for the casual listener who may not realise who made up the personnel. Our selection from the album, The Same, opens with a deliciously throbbing synth-line, which burbles away and builds, without ever tipping over the threshold of a crescendo. It’s a fantastic, slow-burning track that is at the same time beautiful and slightly sinister. On this basis, don’t be surprised to see a return to the studio for this accomplished threesome.
So there you have it folks, our rundown of the bestest ever albums released during 2022, this is completely subjective and you may not agree, if this is the case, please feel free to comment on the website piece and tell us who is on YOUR top ten list and feel free to share a few words to explain why and we might go and check it out to broaden our musical knowledge.
See you on the other side….
Words by Pete Muscutt